How did you get here!? What's your story?

I myself come from an extremely devout conservative family. I was raised as a Catholic and became "born again" during a Summer Vacation Bible camp when I was in the sixth grade. I made all the sacraments, went to CCD (like Bible study classes), attended Christian Conferences and week long camps, and even went to a Private Catholic College. My husband went into the military shortly after we married and I think that was the beginning of my de-conversion. I attended LSU and lived all over the deep South. This really opened up my eyes to a world very different from where I grew up. I began questioning after attempting to find a church that "fit" us. Listening to pastors talk about beating their kids, using Bible quotes to condone it, and then sitting through masses about tithing and speaking in tongues, I started to see how crazy religion was. I guess I identified as non-denominational for a while because I didnt want to have anything to do with man made religion. Then it was watching documentaries and specials on Jesus and I started questioning the Bible and whether or not he could have existed and raised the dead, and walked on water, turned water to wine, etc....My conclusion upon getting my degree in Science Psychology was no he couldnt have, those things are improbable. If that was my conclusion then every other "story" in the Bible was improbable and where did that leave me?

My de-conversion was a process and progress if you ask me. I didnt just wake up one day and say "I think I'll be an atheist". I was a long sometimes painful process that led me here. I could never "go back" EVER, too many things about this world and Universe point to happen stance, probability, and accident. We are Serendipitous, the outcome of a happy accident. I'm fine with that, I'm happy with that! I no longer need a man in the sky subconsciously re affirming my every choice and "making" me feel guilty when I make a poor decision. My brain is far evolved from the mythology and going back is no longer an option.

The repercussions from my de-conversion have been slight. My Mom cried when she found out and told me I was going to Hell, now she just tries to get me to listen to Christian radio stations and referred to my recent raise and promotion as an "answer to her prayers". I deal with the religious rhetoric because she is family. I now look back often, especially when she looks at something purely scientific and attributes it to God, and wonder how I could have ever believed such nonsense.

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I didn't go to a religious college, thankfully haha. It is a public university in the midwest, but a small one. The good news is that they are open and let all different kinds of groups participate on campus like the group that i tried to attend; so even though it's kind of odd to see them let religious groups to have their functions on campus, they accommodate other groups as well without barring any of them. Heck, we even get that weird traveling guy, Brother Jed, every once in a while.

Dawkins has been much more accessible to me than Hitchens. I love watching Hitchens in debates, but reading his stuff takes me much longer than Dawkins (a good sign, i'm sure. but annoying when you just want to get through it haha). It's good to see other Dawkins fans. Dawkins is at the top of my list followed closely by Hitchens and Sagan. Sam Harris is alright, and I haven't really gotten into to many others

Yeah, I don't know that I was indoctrinated with the religion, but I was definitely being controlled by the social aspect of it. There were a lot of people that I knew who went to my church and then everybody else went to another church. It is such a powerful way to get children to follow it, and you don't even think about it. There were points were I wanted to believe really badly because it seemed like everyone else around me did and I felt left out. Good thing I didn't finally give in

I was always an atheist. Thankfully my family never took a shit into my skull (indoctrinated) me. I did have a phase where I was intrigued by faith, I was young, and I thought about becoming a religious person, but then I decided I don't want to be a retard and that I'm better than god anyway. Even my neighbors dog is a better person than god. I think I could make a better god out of nothing more than a bottle of spit and old newspaper clippings. So yeah.

I do appreciate your story, Kara. I've been an atheist for as long as I was mature enough to comprehend the stories in the bible. I pity the victims of indoctrination. Without it, the only thing wholly "self-evident" with regard to religion is how totally implausible and contradictory it is literally. I like to highlight the fact that like Kara, Atheists come to this conclusion on their own. Unlike Christians of America who seek to bring people into belief, there is no organized campaign for atheists. The fruits of science does that. And lately, we all end up at sites like this to share battle stories.

Compare the religions which must meet 2 and 3 times a week to keep the faith buoyed.

It's true as frustrating as it is....Atheism is really something that happens over a period of time and like you said Jay it's a conclusion only they can come to. No amount of "preaching", encouragement to watch Hitchens or read Dawkins will ever help unless they are willing and able to do it themselves. I beleive that all people are atheists, they just haven't "found the way" yet.

Very very cool. Considering how many times we've been totally surprised by rocks the size of a small state passing between us and our moon, I'm not surprised we only just noticed that our galaxy got t-boned sometime in the recent (by astronomical measurements) past.

There was a NOVA docu last night, a rerun I think concerning telescope history and design, 'Seeking the Edge of The Universe'. They mentioned 'dark matter' and 'dark energy' again. Since the 'dark' stuff is at about 95% of all mass, should not 'dark matter' or 'dark energy' be passing through or bound to us in some way? Does part of our mass consist of 'dark matter'?

My atheist story goes back to the early 80's.. I was about 11-12. About that time I was interested in things like dinosaurs, Greek/Roman myth, vampires, Loch Ness Monster, Big Foot, UFOs, and even evolution. During that same period, my younger brother and I were going to church and church events (Boys Brigade - think Boy Scouts) with one of the local neighbor families( Mom, Dad and three boys). They were essentially born-again. Took the Bible literally. Now, the old child of that family and I would hit the library from time to time. I'd sign out science fiction and other books which related back to the aforementioned genres. After a couple summer's worth reading material like that I began to see that the stories in the Bible weren't much different then the other myths I was reading about. So I'd ask the mom of the neighbor family questions about what I was reading. stuff like cloning and even evolution in relation to creation. For example, I asked her straight-out once " isn't it possible God might be guiding evolution in order for us to be who were currently are?" She said no, and that fossils were put in the ground by the devil to test our faith. Even at my young age, I knew that didn't make sense. After all, didn't the Devil have better things to do like start wars and such?

That was the beginning of my reasoning that God was nothing more then man's explanation for things he didn't understand... Really no different then the Greek/Roman myths I was reading about.

Since I didn't push the subject or really talk about it with people I knew.. it took me a long time to understand the difference between agnostic and atheist. Sure, I'd get asked from time to time just what I believed.. and I'd say--- Which is the one that doesn't believe in God? Atheist or agnostic? That's what I am.. And that would be the end of the conversation.. In High school, I was friends with three girls who believed in Jesus/God.. I kept my mouth shut and tried to be tolerant of their views. I thought it was cool they'd remember my birthday and get me cards, but I'd have to roll my eyes when I saw the "Love in Christ, " right above their names... I considered them good friends despite that. And outside of the cards and maybe something in passing here and there. They didn't push it either. I will admit, that 2 of the girls (who were best friends) I would have considered dating at one point--- until I found out just how devote they were. I think one of the few times a guy has put girls he was attracted to in the 'friend zone'.. LOL

But anyway, it wasn't until recently that I've fully embraced atheism. Soon after I stumbled across this site. T.A. has helped to expand my knowledge base of information.